


perseus: to destroy

by emeaerre



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: BAMF Percy Jackson, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Making Out, Post-Canon, dumb boy, no beta we die like men, percy doesnt know how badass he is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 13:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30123225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeaerre/pseuds/emeaerre
Summary: Perseus/pûr′sē əs, -syo̅o̅s/Possibly derived from Greek πέρθω (pertho) meaning "to destroy".Percy slowly, fight by fight, day by day, starts to realize justhowpowerful he really is.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Kudos: 59





	perseus: to destroy

He knew it had been a mistake to come here. But no, he had wanted to show Annabeth the small, secluded clearing he’d found one of the times he’d been walking off his nightmares.  _ Stupid, stupid Percy. _

They’d arrived hand in hand and, after showing her around (there wasn’t really a lot to see, he just liked the spot because it was fresh and dark and beautiful in the moonlight) and chatting for a bit, they’d ended up in their favorite position as of late: Percy laying against a tree, with Annabeth straddling him. However, they barely got to enjoy the makeout session when Percy suddenly grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her slightly back.

“Do you feel that?” he breathed, trying to be quiet.

“I swear, Jackson if this is some kind of—” she started to glare at him.

“Oh, come on. Do you seriously think  _ I’d _ do something stupid and make this stop?” Percy looked at her, incredibility filling his words. She looked at him, considering.

“Yeah, I guess you got a point,” she sighed. “What is it though?”

He licked his lips and tilted his head as if hearing something far away. He could feel some kind of disturbance, almost like the air was vibrating unnaturally; it felt as if a writhing ball of snakes was moving through the park towards them, spasming and jerking. Percy hadn’t felt anything like this before, but he had a feeling it wasn’t going to be a good surprise.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But it’s coming our way.” He grabbed Annabeth’s waist and got them both standing. They drew their respective swords (Percy never had enough of seeing Annabeth looking fierce with her drakon bone sword) and stood back to back, observing the surrounding trees and waiting for whatever it was to arrive. Annabeth hadn’t heard anything, but she trusted Percy’s instincts implicitly.

Percy was feeling more uneasy with every passing second. The strange pull he felt towards the vibrating mass reminded him of the sea, but it didn’t feel as right; he racked his brain to try and figure out what this was because it felt familiar and  _ different  _ at the same time, but before he could make a connection, something broke out of the bushes right in front of him. It was tall—at least 7 feet—, dark and didn’t walk so much as flopped. When it finally saw them standing right in the center of the clearing, it came to an abrupt stop, though it slid forward a bit with its momentum. Percy let out a disbelieving laugh—it was a  _ Telekhine _ ; the last time he’d seen one was in the aquarium in Atlanta. The monster turned its ugly head sharply at the sound, and after a few heartbeats of them staring at each other, its eyes suddenly grew wide and it tried to stumble backward.

“You’re—you—” it stammered, face contorted with terror, “You’re Percy Jackson, aren’t you?” it breathed. Percy blinked and exchanged a quick glance with Annabeth, who didn’t look as surprised—more like confused—as he felt and nodded. He had been recognized before, of course, but he hadn’t thought that a monster that either had been killed back when he unintentionally exploded a certain volcano or had been scattered someplace in the country afterward would know him on sight.  _ Had his reputation really been spread that far? Did  _ every  _ monster now know who he was? _ he wondered. He didn’t have time to follow that line of thought though, because apparently, the monster didn’t need anything more than his nod to confirm his identity, and started turning around while muttering, “Can’t believe it! Can’t even go to visit my cousins! Running into  _ the  _ titan killer in the park!”

After the Telekhine hurriedly flopped away, the couple stood in the same positions for a few moments before Percy finally said, “Did that really just happen?” Annabeth gave him a considering look.

“Has this happened before?” she asked. Percy saw she had the  _ My brain is working at Athena-fast levels so just answer my questions or so help me gods _ , so Percy very smartly replied quickly.

“Not really.” He thought about it, but no, it was definitely a first. “I mean, yeah, some monsters have recognized me before, but they’ve never actually  _ not  _ tried to kill me, so, uh, I don’t know what that was about.” Annabeth gave him an incredulous look.

“You’re kidding, right?” When Percy just gave her a blank look, she sighed. “It didn’t just recognize you, seaweed brain—it literally fled when it realized who you were.” But that didn’t make any sense. When monsters recognized him, they were normally even more bloodthirsty, like he was some grand prize; they wanted bragging rights— _ yes,  _ I  _ killed Perseus Jackson, I’m the biggest and baddest of them all _ —. Annabeth apparently saw the thought on his face, because she tried to explain, “It seems your reputation has gotten even worse—or better, depending on your perspective, I guess—since the last time we ran into a monster.” she hummed, thinking. “It makes sense; you’re the most famous demigod, even before you fought Kronos, let alone after you came out of Tartarus alive—”

“But you were there too,” Percy interrupted, “When  _ we  _ fought Kronos  _ and  _ when we survived Tartarus.” The blonde sighed as if he was purposely missing the point.

“Yes, but you’re a kid of the big three.” She looked at him like she was expecting him to suddenly brighten with understanding. When this clearly didn’t happen, she continued, “Percy, you’ve been fighting monsters since you were twelve—” she talked over him when he tried to interrupt with  _ and you since you’ve been seven!  _ “—, you killed your first monster— _ the fucking minotaur _ —before you even knew what a demigod was, you fought with Ares and won, you went to the Underworld and lived to tell the tale, you found Zeus’s bolt and returned it safely, and that’s just your first quest.” She looked at him with a little smile. “You’re kind of a legend, you know that?”

“Whoa, hold on,” Percy spluttered, “I mean, yes, I did all that, but you were literally by my side the whole time, and don’t say it’s because I’m a son of Poseidon, because that can’t be it.”

Annabeth pursed her lips. “You’re incredibly powerful, Percy. I’m actually kind of surprised monsters haven’t run away from you before. It seems they’re slow learners.” He still looked at her like he didn’t fully believe monsters would truly be afraid of him, so she shook her head, “But anyway, now that we know we won’t be disturbed for the time being,” she gave him a slow smile, “Where were we?”

Percy didn’t need more encouragement; he grinned, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her to him. He wasn’t gonna let some monster encounter—as weird as it had been—take away his kissing-Annabeth time.

**Author's Note:**

> cross posted @ ffnet


End file.
